Nonexistent Self-Preservation
by Master-Magician
Summary: Final scene of New York Kids from Jo's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

**My first entry to Forever fandom. I absolutely love the chemistry between Henry and Jo. Spoilers for New York Kids. **

**Enjoy. **

Detective Jo Martinez had finally caught up to the perp. After dealing with the rich kids and their secrets this whole investigation she finally had the culprit in her sights.

"Drop your weapon." Jo's voice was authoritative as it always was. Yet Morris did not put his weapon down. "Drop your weapon now!" She said it with more force this time.

Jo knew when he hesitated to drop the weapon that she should have been ready at a moment's notice to fire her own.

Suddenly she found that she could not. Her own words from earlier echoed in her mind alongside images of the last man she shot.

_Bullet fever right? Lieutenant I know that that can't happen._

Jo could tell instantly that she was not the only one who noticed her hesitation. Morris had seen it as well.

"No." Morris raised his own gun to point straight at her. Jo immediately knew she needed to pull the trigger, she needed to shoot him. One slight squeeze of the trigger was all it would take, but she could not do it. Her hands and body were froze.

"You drop your weapon." Morris seemed to gain more confidence as microseconds passed.

"It's those rich kids from the city who are the bad guys here, not me." Of course Morris would try to defend himself in this. Even if she did somewhat agree with him about those kids, he was still a murderer. He still needed to pay for his crime.

"Yes." That voice inspired both embarrassment and dread in the detective. The former because now Henry was here to witness her inability to act, the latter because if Morris decided to kill her Henry would likely follow soon after just because he was a witness.

The whole while she would be unable to act.

She was still frozen on the spot.

"We know what they did Mr. Morris. Like we know you were working here that night. The night they hit Meechum. But you knew what they'd done, and when you found out Tyler was wealthy you decided to blackmail him til he decided to confess." Henry took a step closer to Morris as he spoke. Jo wanted nothing more than to grab him and pull him back. If he got too close Morris would panic and shoot.

"Henry stop!" Jo finally found her voice when Henry took yet another step toward Morris. His gun still trained on the both of them. "Henry!"

"It's her or you man, your call." Morris' words horrified Jo. He actually wanted her and Henry to choose which of them to die. Jo wanted to live but she wanted Henry to live more.

The answer was in Jo's mind almost instantly. She was the cop, the detective. It was her job to put her life on the line so that civilians like Henry did not have to. He was just the medical examiner, more than that though, he was her partner. If she had to sacrifice herself to save Henry then she would do so gladly.

Jo looked over at Henry. She could see in his eyes the same horror that she knew to be in hers.

Jo knew the choice that needed to be made.

Before she could lower her gun and step forward to take the bullet Henry interrupted her with words even more shocking than what Morris had said.

"Me, shoot me."

Jo looked over at Henry in total shock. What the hell was he doing? This was not supposed to happen like this. He was not supposed to die.

Henry moves forward again. "Henry stop!"

It was in that moment that time practically froze. Morris began to move his gun so that it was pointed at Henry. He only made it part way however.

That was the push Jo needed. He was going to kill Henry while she stood by and watched.

No way in hell was she going to sit back and let this happen.

Morris' gun only made it halfway toward Henry when Jo pulled the trigger. The bullet struck home into Morris' shoulder sending him to the ground.

Jo did not hesitate as she moved over to the man quickly. "Drop your gun! Drop it!" She kicked it aside. "Roll over. Fingers together, interlace them." She cuffed his hands behind his back with a little more roughness than she figured was needed.

It was not until she was done and the threat was removed that she noticed a certain small detail. Actually it was not small at all, to Jo it was major.

Henry was standing back exactly where she had left him clutching at his arm. Jo could easily see the pain in his posture and facial expression.

She remembered Morris had fired at them as he fled the gas station. She had left Henry there when he told her he was fine. She would have likely just taken his word for it if she had not seen the blood stain running down the sleeve of his arm.

Henry had been shot.

She was already rushing over to him without a second thought.

"I understand Tyler's friends brought in their lawyers." Henry spoke as the pair made their way down the hall toward the cadaver lab.

"Vehicular assault. It's not even manslaughter. They'll do a few years, and the worst part is I don't think even one of them lost a moments sleep over what they did." Jo was worse than disappointed. This entire deal felt like a total failure of the justice system. Those rich kids had murdered a young man, despite it being an accident they tried to hide it and succeeded for years.

It was just wrong in so many ways.

"Yes well in the heat of any moment we all have an instinct for self-preservation." Henry's voiced with a small shrug using his spare arm that was not in the sling.

The movement of his arm is what brought her mind back to what happened in the woods by that gas station. She certainly had a few words for the resident ME.

"Yeah but it's the choices we make after those moments that count right?" Henry stopped moving as Jo's words, his back to her.

"You know, your self-preservation instinct seems nonexistent." Jo continued as she glared daggers at Henry's back.

Part of her wanted to hit him as hard as she possibly could, another just wanted to throw her arms around his thin frame and hug him breathless. She was angry that he was so callous with his own life but at the same time he was almost instantly willing to trade his life for hers.

Perhaps he saw the two of them as more than just partners. Maybe as actual friends, or at least well on the way to being such a thing. Jo found she rather liked the thought.

Something still needed to be done about Henry's disregard for his own life. If he was her friend then he had to know he could not just throw his life away. Regardless of how he saw it his life had great value to her, maybe even more value to her than him if his behavior was any indication.

She was still trying to decide between the punch and the hug. Instead she decided to go with the middle ground to avoid extremes.

"Henry look at me," Jo had had enough of the back treatment so she used her assertive detective voice on him hoping it would work. She was relieved when it did and he turned around.

"Don't ever pull another stunt like you did at that gas station. You understand?" Jo's brown eyes never for a second looked away from Henry's own dark orbs. She would not say it to Henry but she figured a man who notices everything like he does probably caught the real sentence she was not saying. The one she was unsure how he would react to.

_You're not allowed to sacrifice yourself, you mean too much to me to die in my place._

Henry did not utter a single word. Instead he nodded slightly with a small bashful smile.

Good, he was at least a little guilty for making her so worried.

As she moved to leave Jo had a thought. She looked over her shoulder at Henry whom had taken a seat in his office. The sling was going to make work difficult for a while.

Biting her lip softly she thought about seeing if he wanted to go out for drinks again like they had done before on a few occasions. It would be a great way to unwind and calm down after what happened today.

Jo sighs as she turned back to the elevator. She would have gladly marched right in there to drag him out of his office if she did not already have an appointment with Reece. The piece of paper the lieutenant gave her earlier still in her pocket.

With one last look behind her Jo began to leave when she saw Henry watching her. He offered her a small smile followed by a tiny wave. She could not help but return both gestures.

Oh yes, they were definitely going out for those drinks later.

**If anyone is interested I might try doing a reverse chapter, same thing but from Henry's view instead.**

**Review please. **


	2. Henry

**Due to some requests (as well as a desire to see more Forever stories) here is a follow up to Nonexistent Self-Preservation. Bear in mind it is the same story but instead of being seen from Jo this will be from Henry. **

**Enjoy. **

Pain lit up Henry's arm. As a former doctor and immortal who has seen and experienced much he knew exactly how a gunshot wound felt.

Henry really should had seen it coming, they had the most likely culprit cornered. Morris had to of known that he was caught, the bank records would have been the smoking gun to prove he was taking blackmail money from Tyler. This provided the motive while the other evidence supported the entire case. They finally had him.

So of course he would use a surprise attack to try to eliminate both of them.

Thankfully Morris' aim was either not the best or he was too panicked. Either way he missed Jo completely, thank god, but managed to hit Henry in the arm.

As Morris took off out the back door to the woods, Henry could not help crying out in pain. Being immortal meant death was not an option but pain however was still very potent.

"Henry!" Jo had drawn her gun the moment Morris opened fire but she did not give chase. Instead she responded to his sound of pain.

"Go, I'll be fine." Henry groaned out. Jo seemed to hesitate for a split second as she held her hand on his uninjured shoulder. She seemed to trust his words though, she was soon springing after the fleeing Morris.

Henry groaned again as he moved his hand from where it was clutching his upper arm. The hand came away completely covered in fresh, sticky blood. Near as he could tell the shot was not a through and through. The bullet would need to be extracted later, but that was not the most pressing concern.

Jo had left at his insistence to chase the running suspect but Henry was concerned, deeply so. Jo would always stress how she was just fine after her first kill. Henry though was a master at seeing things that were there but not visible. If Morris were to refuse to come quietly after Jo cornered him, which Henry was sure she would, she may not be able to take the shot to end his life. Morris was desperate and panicked. He would not hesitate to shoot Jo. She was not immortal like he was, if she died there would be no coming back like there was for him.

Henry would not just sit back and let her die, not if there was something he could do.

Forcing himself to his feet, Henry began moving out the door. He kept his hand latched onto his arm to slow the bleeding as much as possible. He would deal with the wound later once Jo was safe. There was indeed a lot of pain but Henry just used it to spur himself on further.

He moved as fast as he could with the wounded arm lighting up like the furnace of a smithy.

It was not long until he heard the voices.

"You drop your weapon." Morris voice was the first Henry heard. The confidence it held proposed two possibilities. Either Morris had somehow gained the upper hand on Jo, which was unlikely, or Jo had frozen just as Henry feared.

"It's those rich kids from the city who are the bad guys here, not me." Morris was trying to defend himself, it did not matter though. Between him and the friends of Tyler there were no innocents in all this. He was just as guilty as them, perhaps even more so, hitting Meechum had been an accident after all. Whether it was covered up or not was irrelevant.

"Yes." Henry knew it was time for him to step in, injury or not. "We know what they did Mr. Morris. Like we know you were working here that night. The night they hit Meechum. But you knew what they'd done, and when you found out Tyler was wealthy you decided to blackmail him til he decided to confess." Henry took a step closer to Morris as he spoke. He needed to get closer to Morris in case he decided to shoot. Henry could take a bullet to the chest, Jo could not.

Henry knew he was risking the exposure of his secret. He preferred it to be exposed than to have Jo gunned down before his very eyes, it was certainly better than the reverse.

"Henry stop!" Jo of course did not know he was immortal. To the best of her knowledge he was completely normal, a bit odd, but still ordinary flesh and blood. She had no clue how wrong she was. If there was not a gun trained on them Henry surmised she would likely already be dragging him away from the threat by his uninjured arm. "Henry!"

"It's her or you man, your call." Morris was actually wanting him to decide which of the two would die? The irony of that request almost made Henry chuckle, in fact he would have if not for the danger Jo was in.

Henry looked over at Jo for a brief moment. He could see the horror in her eyes. She was terrified of death, despite the possibility of it reuniting her with her deceased husband. She was not the only one horrified however. Henry was as well, but not for the same reason Jo likely thought he was.

Henry was worried that even if he did sacrifice himself, Morris would just shoot her anyway so there would be no witnesses.

Henry knew the choice that needed to be made.

The choice was easy for Henry. He would just have to try to explain to Jo later what happened and hope he could make her understand. It would even make things a little easier actually, no more sidestepping the truth of his condition around her.

"Me, shoot me."

Jo was in the expected shock of course. She would be having a near panic attack on the inside but that was a bridge to cross later.

Henry stepped forward again as Jo called out to him one more time. "Henry stop!"

Just as Morris had started to raise his gun toward Henry, Jo finally broke through her stupor. Before Morris could even point his weapon directly at Henry she fired. The single round struck Morris in the shoulder knocking him down.

In the blink of an eye Jo was advancing on the fallen Morris. "Drop your gun! Drop it!" She kicked it aside. "Roll over. Fingers together, interlace them." She placed the handcuffs on him quickly.

Henry breathed a sigh of relief. The threat was eliminated and Jo was safe. Now all he had to deal with was the injured arm.

If the look Jo had on her face as she was looking at him was any indication then she must have just then realized he had already been shot.

Jo was already moving over to him, leaving Morris face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and forgotten.

"I understand Tyler's friends brought in their lawyers." Henry spoke as he readjusted the sling on his arm. It still throbbed painfully but it was healing. He contemplated the thought of killing himself with something just to get rid of the inconvenience but quickly dismissed that theory. People would ask too many questions.

His current problem was not his arm though, it was the scolding he knew he was going to receive as he walked beside Jo toward the cadaver lab.

"Vehicular assault. It's not even manslaughter. They'll do a few years, and the worst part is I don't think even one of them lost a moments sleep over what they did." Henry could hear the anger and disappointment in her voice. He could not agree more that what was happening was wrong.

"Yes well in the heat of any moment we all have an instinct for self-preservation." Henry gave a small shrug with his words. He realized a moment later that he had practically fired the first shot at himself of the verbal barrage Jo was going to give him.

"Yeah but it's the choices we make after those moments that count right?" Henry stopped moving at her words so that his back was still facing her. There was no point in trying to avoid it, she could not kill him but he in truth he almost wished she would physically hurt him instead of the anger and disappointment she surely felt toward him. Physical pain was always easier to deal with.

"You know, your self-preservation instinct seems nonexistent." Henry was still facing away from her but he could still feel the leer that she was directing at his back.

Henry knew she was angry at the fact he was willing to throw his life away without a second thought, that was how she saw it. What she did not understand though, was that he was willing to expose his greatest secret just to save her life.

Even were he not immortal he would still trade his life to save hers.

It was this thought that finally opened Henry's eyes. She was his partner yes, but also much more. She was his friend, friends are supposed to look out for each other. Were they in each other's shoes she would make the same trade he was willing to make.

"Henry look at me," Jo was now using her more forceful voice. Henry could not hide anymore. Taking a deep breath he slowly turned around.

"Don't ever pull another stunt like you did at that gas station. You understand?" Henry felt Jo's chocolate eyes boring into his own. The sentence she was thinking was obvious but not spoken.

_You're not allowed to sacrifice yourself, you mean too much to me to die in my place._

Little did Jo know that the reverse was true for her as well.

Henry was unable to speak, he knew no words that would be usable here. He settled instead for a simple nod and a timid smile.

That seemed enough for her as she left.

Henry went to sit in his office before taking a soft breath. This had been a rough day. Now because of the sling he could not even work to get his mind off things.

When he looked up Henry saw Jo watching him though the glass doors. Had she been standing there watching him since she turned to leave?

Henry gave her a tiny smile coupled with a small wave. That seemed to be something Jo was hoping for, she returned both with a slightly larger smile.

Henry could not help but wonder what was going through her mind.

**Here you go everyone. Hope you liked it. **

**Review please. **


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